The Long Way Home
by RECOmega
Summary: Based around the DmC Devil May Cry reboot/ DMC5 video game. The boys end up with another ally alongside Kat- a young woman with an interesting history named Anna. But don't think you know who she is simply based on the first few pages. Things are never as they seem.


It had been years since anyone but Anna had been to Paradise. After the attack, she alone had tended to the old estate as it slowly crumbled around her. That is, until a young man appeared on her doorstep. Anna watched from a safe distance down the main hall of the house cloaked in an ankle-length black over-garment. He seemed oddly familiar to her, but she couldn't place him. A woman of similar age stepped out from behind him. She pulled a large piece of paper from the tube she wore on her back, took a can of spray paint from her hip, and transferred the design on to the ground just inside the front door. The well-dressed man removed his blue-embroidered black hat and coat, passed them to the lady, and stepped inside the circle. A white light flooded the hall before he faded away. Anna took a long look at the seal before recognizing he had willingly gone to Limbo alone and unarmed.

Anna shuttered slightly before walking back down the hallway she'd come from and sealing herself in one of the studies. She hadn't set foot in Limbo since THAT day. She pulled an old, dusty book from her pile on the floor before she plopped down under a portrait of a beautiful, red-headed woman clothed in a black lace dress and holding a blue rose. She began to read the same book she always read as she waited for the visitors to leave. As long as they did no harm to her home in the real world, she wouldn't bother them.

The girl tucked her black bangs behind her ears, the pulled the rest of her otherwise white locks up in to a half-attempted mess of a bun. She was just finishing the first chapter of her book when the man in Limbo walked through the closed door. She glanced up at him for a moment before continuing to the next chapter. Most creatures, even ones who could pass in to Limbo, couldn't see back in to the living world, so she paid him little mind.

"Excuse me, miss." A gentle, masculine voice spoke and Anna looked up.

"So you can see me." It was a statement that left no room for question.

"Yes, and likewise to you. May I ask your name?" The white haired stranger took a step forward as Anna raised her hand, palm towards her visitor.

"Only if you grant me yours first and explain your presence in my home." Her hazel eyes were curious, but still cautious.

"Of course." He bowed respectfully, remaining where he was. "My name is Vergil. I've had dreams of this place for several months. I came here hoping that those dreams were instead memories of my childhood that I've forgotten."

Anna felt her chest tighten when the man spoke his name. At least one of the twins was still alive, though her brother had kept his promise and wiped their memories. She wondered if she should aid him, hinder him, or let him stay his course and uncover the truth on his own.

"I am Anna," she spoke as she let her hand fall. "I have been the caretaker of this mansion since the event that took the lives of the owners. I know they will never return, but I owe this to my brother and his wife. I hope to one day pass it on to their children."

Vergil nodded, his eyes gliding over the portrait that hung behind the woman. "She's beautiful."

Anna nodded. "She was my best friend and the sister I never had. I mourned her death for weeks after she and my brother were killed." Her eyes went dark as she stood and looked away. "I'm sorry, I have to go now. I hope you find what it is you're seeking, Vergil."

"Anna, please," He reached towards her. "Isn't there anything you can tell me?"

Anna side stepped to avoid his grip. "I may know something, but it's nothing I can teach you. Just know that I will see you again." She fled to a room she knew had no existence in Limbo and waited for him to leave. She sank against the brick wall as she curled up in to a ball in tears. Even though she knew it to be the truth, it was the first time in over a decade that she had verbally admitted that Eva and Sparda would not be returning to Paradise.

Vergil remained for a few moments before picking up the book Anna had been reading and had dropped. He stared at the cover. "Just so you know," he spoke loudly, unaware of how close Anna was. "No one truly knows their own destiny." He closed the book and placed it gently under the picture of Eva before leaving the study. With his dismissal, Anna walked over and tearfully retrieved her copy of "The Divine Comedy," silently praying he was right.


End file.
